Clothes-line prop.



A. S. HOXIE.

CLOTHES LINE PROP.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 16, 1911.

1,046,787.. Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

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I SAES GLOTI-IESLLINE PROP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 16, 1912.

Application filed January 16, 1911. Serial No.-603,028.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR S. Home, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Line Props, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to clothes-line props, and the main object of the invention is to provide a device of this description having means for engaging and tightly gripping a clothes-line without injuriously chafing it, thus preventing slipping of the line at the upper end of the pole. The means employed by me for this purpose embody a stationary member attached to the upper end of the prop and having a projection thereon and a rotary member mounted in said fixed member, between which projecting and rotary parts the clothes-line held and wedged without injury to the line.

Other features of the invention relate to means for adjusting the pole or prop t'o different lengths and holding it in such adjusted positions, and to gripping means for holding the pole firmly in the ground to prevent slipping of the bottom thereof.

In the drawings Figures 1, 2 and 3 are side elevations of adjustable clothesprops embodying difierent forms of holding devices for clothes-lines and having different means for varying the-lengths of the props and for holding the props against movement on the ground; Fig. 4 is a side eleva tion, full size, of the line-holding means shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a central vertical section of the same; Fig. 6 is a full size side elevation of the lineholding means shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a similar view of the line-holding device of Fig. 2; Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the upper portion of a prop adapted to receive the device shown in Fig. 7 Fig. 9 is an elevation, full size, showing the spur device of Figs. 1 and 2, the view being taken in a direction transverse to that of said figures; Fig. 10 is a full size view of the spur shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 11 is an end elevation of a modified type of roller adapted for use with metal lines.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 I have shown a clothesprop made up of a plurality of sections 2 and 3. These props are fitted at their upper ends with line-holding devices, such as 4, 5 or 6, and at their lower ends with spurs, such as 7 or 8. In Fig. 1 the pole sections are shown as slidable up and down in guides 9 to shorten or lengthen the prop, the guides being of metal and attached one to each section of the prop,-rivets 10 being shown for attaching each guide to its pole section, and a screw 11 for holding said sections in adjusted-position. Holes 12 in the lower pole section are also adapted for cooperation with'said screw for adjusting the prop to other lengths.

Fig. 2 shows another means for adjusting the prop to dilterent lengths. Here l313 designate plates, one of which is fastened to each section of the prop by rivets 14, on e which the plates turn. A removable pin 15 passing through the end of each plate 13 opposite the bolt 14 and through a-hole in the prop section opposite that to which the plate is riveted holds the sections in any adjusted position, other adjustments being secured by cooperation of said pins 15 with other holes 16 in the prop sections 2 and 3.

Fig. 3 shows an adjustable prop having adjusting guides similar to those of Fig. 1, they being secured to the; pole sections by bolts or rivets, said guides and securing rivets being designated by 17 and 18 respectively. The means for holding the sections in an adjusted position is, however, shown in this view as a bolt 19 secured to the bottom of the upper prop section and having its pin adapted to pass into a recess in the other pole section. Other such recesses are shown at 20 to allow adjustment for different lengths of prop.

The line-holding means employed, various forms of which are shown herein in detail in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 is illustrated as made up of a fixed element for attachment to the prop and a rotatable element mounted in said fixed element. The fixed element of the device of Figs. 1, 4 and 5 is formed up from a single metal stamping and is adapted to surround the upper end of the upper pole section on three sides, the side portions of said fixed element being designated by 21. Between an upturned portion or tongue 22 of said element and a roller 23 on a shaft- 25 in the projection 24 at opposite sides of said fixed element a clothes-line is adapted to lie and be wedged. Holes 26 in opposite sides 21 permit the insertion of rivets or bolts for securing the holding device to the pole.

The form of device shown at 6, Figs. 3 and 6, also has its stationary part formed one-piece stationary member adapted to surprojection or tongue has a hole 28 therein to adapt the device to be riveted or nailed. to the side of a prop.

The device of Figs. 2 and 7 has also a round the pole, as in the device of Fig. 4. Here however the back portion of said member is carried up beyond the side sections 29 and turned 'over at 30 to form a stop for a shaped end of a pole, as at 31.

' In Fig. 9 I have shown a double spur device and its holding means. These holding means are projections 32 for engaging the wood of the prop and a pin 33 passing through the prop and the spur members.

Fig. 10 shows at 3A the turned-back portion of the spur of Fig. 3, this turned-back portionresting on the bottom of the pole.

In Fig. 11 there isshown at 37 a roller adapted for use with a metal line. It is made preferably of metal, or ofwood with a metal rim, and has peripheral grooves or corrugations, such as 38, in any one of which the line may lie and be clamped between said roller and the cooperating portion of the stationary member.

A device of the character described affords an eiiective and cheap adjustable prop, the line-engaging means of which is adapted, in some of thevariations shown, to be attached to poles of any length and thickness without any change in such pole, while other forms shown may be attached to any pole by merely shaping the pole end to fit such device.

.A clothes-line inserted in the line space between the roller and the cooperating back portion of the stationary member will be fed down into the groove and held against movement in all directions, the greater the pressure on the line the stronger being the gripping action of the device.

What I claim is:

1. A clothes-line prop, comprising a pole,

and a line-holding device having a fixed member and a roller member journaled therein between which members a line is adapted to be held by movement of said device crosswise of the line. Y

2. A clothes-line prop, comprising a pole, and a line-holding device having a fixed member and a roller member journaled therein, said members forming between them an open-sided groove of gradually decreasing width in the plane of rotation of the rollerand in which groove a line is adapted to be held.

Signed at the city of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan this 7th day of January, A. D. 1911.

ARTHUR S. HOXIE.

Witnesses:

NELLm L. CoNDoN, RALPH S. HIRTH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

